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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23204917">Family Dinner</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian'>localspacelesbian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Diary of a Future President (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coming Out, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of homophobia, cami being a fairy gaymother, elena being a supportive sister (in her own way)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:29:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,246</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23204917</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bobby comes out to his family</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bobby Cañero-Reed/Liam Carter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>139</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Family Dinner</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Oh my god.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby and Liam jumped apart. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>. No one else was supposed to be home. Elena was staying the night at Sasha’s, and his mom was supposed to be working late. This was karma, wasn’t it? He’d walked in on his mom and Sam all those months ago, so of course now she’d walk in on him and Liam in a very similar position. But this was worse. So much worse. All three of them just stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do or say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His mom broke out of it first, shaking her head and taking a step closer to them and giving them her best Mom smile. “Bobby, I don’t remember you telling me Liam was going to be coming over tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry, Mrs. Cañero-Reed. I can leave.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. “Do you need a ride home?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam shook his head, already walking around to the living room. “No, I’m fine.” He grabbed his backpack from the couch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby followed him. “I’ll walk you out.” He avoided his mom’s gaze as the two of them walked outside and closed the front door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry about her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam shook his head. “Hey, I’m fine. Are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> going to be ok?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby nodded and took a deep breath. “Well, this isn’t exactly how I wanted to come out to my mom, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Her best friend was a lesbian. There was no way she’d hate him for this, right? He honestly wasn’t sure why he was so scared to tell her. No matter how many times he told himself that, he still hadn’t gotten up the courage to tell her, and it had been several weeks now. He nodded again. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he repeated, more to reassure himself than Liam.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam gave him a small smile and reached out to squeeze his hand. “Ok. Text me if you need anything, ok?” Bobby nodded, and Liam stood up on his toes to give him a quick kiss. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” He let go of his hand, which immediately started to feel cold in his absence, and started to walk away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, see ya.” He gave him a small wave and watched until he’d walked out of his line of sight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby sighed and leaned back against the door for a second. Well, he had to face this sometime. He forced himself to open the door and walk in. His mom was sitting on the couch. On the table in front of her sat a familiar-looking black and white binder. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He really should have expected that. As he begrudgingly approached, he looked at the words on the cover, mostly to avoid looking at his mom. ‘The Sex Talk: Roberto Cañero-Reed Edition, Vol 5 (of 8): the Gay Agenda.’</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“‘The Gay Agenda?’ Really, mom?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Camilla’s idea. I got her to help me with this one.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Great</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He honestly didn’t know if that made this better or worse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sat down next to her. “How’d you even know you’d need it?” He hated the idea that she somehow knew before he did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded slowly. “Also Cami’s idea. She said that even if you kids turned out straight, it would still be good for you to know this stuff. And to be honest, putting it together was kind of a learning experience for me, so I agree with her.” She patted her legs. “But before we get started with all that, do you want to talk? About Liam maybe? You don’t have to tell me anything you aren’t comfortable with, but I hope you know you can tell me anything. You don’t have to hide these things from me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “I know. It’s just… hard to talk about this stuff.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. And I know there’s only so much I can do to make it easier, but I’m trying my best.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know.” He took a deep breath. She waited for him to speak. He knew she already knew, so he didn’t know why this was so hard. The word was literally right there in front of him. He decided to get out the easier part first. “Liam and I are dating.” Those words were easy to say, even though a part of him still couldn’t believe they were true. His mom nodded but didn’t say anything. “I’m gay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly, she was hugging him. They were still sitting on the couch, so it was a little awkward, but he was too relieved to care. He hadn’t been expecting her to react badly, but he still felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, like he could finally breathe again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you so much, and I am so proud of you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He smiled. “I love you, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulled back and picked up the binder. “Now, I think it’s time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He groaned. “Do we have to?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She frowned at him. “Hey, I put a lot of work into these.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why do there have to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>eight</span>
  </em>
  <span> of them?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ve been over this. There’s a lot of information to cover, and it needs to be spread out depending on when you’re ready for it. But look on the bright side, after this one, there’s only three more!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He groaned and leaned back against the couch. She opened the binder and started reading.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was agonizing. It seemed to go on forever. He decided that there was literally nothing worse than listening to your mom talk about gay sex. Fortunately, she didn’t go into too much detail about that; apparently she was saving that for a later volume, which he was already dreading. There was also some stuff about gay culture, and he could easily see Camilla’s influence. There was a whole page on Drag Race, which he learned had nothing at all to do with cars. There was also a whole page that was just a list of statistics, each one more depressing than the one before it. By the time his mom finally close the binder, he felt like his head was going to explode.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. It was.” She gave him a look, and he sighed. “Fine, some of it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She gave him a small smile. “You know I do this because I care about you, right? Sex education in this country is terrible, especially when it comes to information about LGBT people, and you deserve to be informed about your body and how to have a healthy relationship, no matter who that relationship is with or what kind of relationship it is.” He nodded. She took his hand in hers. “I don’t care who you date, Bobby. I just want you to be happy. Liam makes you happy, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn’t but smile. “Yeah, he makes me really happy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good. I like him. He seems like a good kid. And I can tell you’ve been happier since you met him, especially these past few weeks. You know, I haven’t seen you smile this much since before-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded, cutting her off. “Yeah.” His smile fell and he looked away as he was hit with a thought. “Do you think dad would have like Liam?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She squeezed his hand, prompting him to look back at her. “Your dad would have loved Liam.” She gave him a knowing look. “And he loved you. </span>
  <em>
    <span>All</span>
  </em>
  <span> of you. And he would be so proud of the man you’re becoming.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded again. “Yeah. I know. I just… I wish I could’ve told him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulled him into another hug. “I know, sweetie. I know. There are so many things I wish I could’ve told him when I had the chance.” She pulled back and put her hands on his shoulders. “But living with those regrets doesn’t do us any good. And he’s still here.” She put her hand over her heart. “Looking out for us. And he knows. And he loves you. And he knows how much you love him. And he’s so proud of you. Don’t you ever forget that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.” He nodded. “I know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulled him back into a hug. “I love you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hugged her back tightly. “I love you, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When they finally separated, he stood up. “I’m gonna go get ready for bed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. “Ok.” He started to walk away, but she stopped him. “Hey, Bobby?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned back. “Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why don’t you invite Liam over sometime? Introduce him to us properly?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you already know him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, but now he’s your boyfriend. I think it’d be nice to have him over for a family dinner sometime, so we can get to know him better. Only if you want to, of course.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll think about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you know, all the regular dating rules still apply; he’s not allowed over if no one else is home, and the bedroom door stays open when he’s here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you’re probably going to have to tell Elena at some point.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Right. Elena.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He’d almost forgotten about that. “Right.” He thought back to how she’d reacted when she’d found out about Sam. From the look on her face, his mom was probably thinking about the same thing. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Great. That should be fun</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He said good night and finally escaped to his bedroom to call his boyfriend. And maybe warn him about what to expect when Elena found out. If he ever figured out how to tell her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, just tell her. What’s the big deal?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Danny elbowed Ziggy. “Dude!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? Do you think she’d have a problem with it or something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby rolled his eyes and shook his head. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought it up to his friends. The four of them were playing video games at Ziggy’s house, and he’d let slip that he’d come out to his mom a couple days ago and was trying to figure out how to come out to his sister. “It’s not that she’d have a problem with it or anything. She’s just… intense.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Danny asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like, you remember the whole mascot thing, right? She likes to think she’s all like woke and shit. She’ll probably try to get us to start a GSA or something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam snorted. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, with less than a month left of school…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam shrugged. “It’s cute that your sister cares about you so much.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, it won’t be so cute when she’s interrogating you. You didn’t see how she reacted when she found out about my mom’s boyfriend.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, but that’s different.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bobby.” He looked over at Liam. “You don’t have to tell her if you don’t want to. All I’m saying is, whatever she throws at me, I can handle it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby nodded, giving him a small smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their moment was interrupted by Ziggy cheering as he won the game. Danny hit him again. “Dude.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ziggy sent Bobby a guilty look. Bobby shook his head. “It’s chill.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Bobby brushed his teeth, he kept glancing over at Elena. He’d been trying to figure out how to come out to her for over a week now. It was honestly probably the most he’d ever thought about his sister in one week. It was awful. Maybe Ziggy was right. (He couldn’t believe he was even thinking those words.) He just needed to tell her. They both spit into the sinks and put their brushes away. She started to head back into her room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Elena.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She turned around, giving him a confused look. “Yeah?” He ran his hand through his hair, suddenly nervous. She took a step closer to him. “You ok?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “Yeah, I’m chill. I just need to tell you something. Please don’t make a big deal out of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took a deep breath. What was he so afraid of? “I’m gay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Oh.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before she could say anything else, he continued. “And I’m dating Liam.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh. Ok.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shrugged. “Yeah, you said not to make a big deal out of it.” He almost sighed in relief, but he knew her well enough to trust that she’d have almost no reaction to this. “Does mami know?” He nodded. She sighed. “Of course. I’m always the last to know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re not last. You’re-” He started counting how many people knew on his fingers. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Monyca, Ziggy, Danny…</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shook her head. “I get it. You’ve told everyone but me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I haven’t told Sam yet. Or anyone at school, well, except-” She gave him a look. “Right. Sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s fine. It’s… </span>
  <em>
    <span>chill</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she said mockingly. “And I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “Thanks.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiled at him. “Good night, Bobby.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. Night.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, that went better than he’d thought it would.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>What he didn’t expect was for her to corner him and Liam the next day at school by his locker. Usually, they both pretended that the other didn’t exist at school, which wasn’t too hard. There weren’t a ton of opportunities for students from different grades to interact. So her appearing out of nowhere like this was completely new. He should have known something like this would happen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi, Liam. I heard you’re dating my brother.” Bobby glanced around to make sure no one heard her. Fortunately, it didn’t look like anyone did. “I have a few questions for you.” Bobby noticed that she was holding a notebook and a pen. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh God</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Elena, we don’t have time for this. We have to get to class.” Bobby tried walking away from her. Liam followed, looking amused. Unfortunately, Elena also followed, walking in step with them on the other side of Liam.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s ok. We can walk and talk.” She opened her notebook. “So first: any priors?” At their confused looks, she clarified. “Prior relationships.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh… two, at my old school, but neither lasted very long.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The first one, we were in seventh grade, and she dumped me for another guy; the second one, we broke up cause I moved here. Haven’t really talked to him since.” He shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded as she wrote in her notebook. “Family?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Three older brothers, a mom, a dad, but I just live with my grandma.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How come?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to answer that,” Bobby told him. “Or any of her questions.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam looked at him. “It’s chill.” He looked back at Elena. “My parents kicked me out when I came out to them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby and Elena both stopped. Liam turned around to look at them. Elena said, “Liam, I’m so sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam shrugged. “It’s chill. My grandma’s pretty cool, and one of my brothers still talks to me, so it could be worse.” After a beat of silence, he pointed at Elena’s notebook. “So… you got anymore questions for me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um…” She looked down at the notebook. “Yeah.” But then the bell rang before she could ask the next question. “We can finish later.” Liam nodded, and she disappeared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, about her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam shrugged. “It’s fine. Like, I said, it’s cute how much she cares about you. Besides, what’s a twelve-year-old gonna say to me that could be worse than anything my parents have already said to me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not knowing what to say to that, Bobby held out his hand. Because Liam was right, no middle schooler could do anything worse to them than what Liam had already been through, and if he could survive that, Bobby could survive holding hands with his boyfriend in the school hallway. Liam smiled at him and took his hand, and the two of them walked to class together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Elena told me you told her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby looked up from his phone to see his mom standing in his bedroom doorway. “Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How’d she take it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby shrugged. “It was chill.” If you could call her finding them during every single passing period for the whole day and asking Liam a bunch of personal questions ‘chill.’</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She came in the room and sat on the bed to give him a slightly awkward hug. “I’m proud of you.” He didn’t really no what to say, so he just gave her a small smile when she let go of him. “So… Now that Elena knows, do you think you’d want to invite Liam over sometime for family dinner?” She asked hopefully. “You don’t have to say yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He thought about it for a second and then nodded slowly. “You know what? Yeah, I’ll do it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiled. “Good. And um, is it ok if Sam is there too or do you want it to be just me and Elena?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “Yeah, I mean, you did say it was a family dinner, right? And he’s family.” Her smile grew as she nodded. “And actually… do you think we could invite Camilla and Danielle, too? I mean, they’re kind of family, too, right?” And maybe it would be easier if he and Liam weren’t the only gay people there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. “They are.” She out her arm around him. “But we should probably draw the line there. We don’t want to overwhelm the poor boy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He snorted. “Yeah, we might want to hold off on introducing him to the whole family until… ideally forever.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, if I don’t get out of introducing them to </span>
  <em>
    <span>my</span>
  </em>
  <span> boyfriend, you don’t get out of introducing them to </span>
  <em>
    <span>yours</span>
  </em>
  <span>. But we can cross that bridge when we get there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Bobby! Elena! Can you come set the table?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby looked in his mirror one last time before heading down the stairs alongside his sister, willing himself not to run. He pushed his nerves down. It was too late to back out now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His mom and Sam were in the kitchen finishing dinner. As Bobby pulled out the plates, Sam asked, “So, who’s the seventh plate for again?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby started putting the plates on the table. “Um…” The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” He practically ran to the door. But it wasn’t Liam. “Hi Camilla. Hi Danielle.” He waved at them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They said hi to him before walking past him into the kitchen. They greeted everyone else, and then Camilla turned back to him as he was continuing to help set the table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, Bobby.” He looked at her. “I heard you invited a </span>
  <em>
    <span>friend</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” He didn’t really like the way she said the word ‘friend,’ like she knew something. But he also wasn’t too surprised that she knew.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shrugged. “Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is it Liam?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Cami…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Camilla looked at Danielle. “What?” She sent Camilla a warning look, and she sighed before turning back to Bobby. “Fine. Sorry, Bobby.” But she couldn’t stay patient for long. “But seriously, who is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um…” The doorbell rang again. “I’ll get it.” This time, he barely managed to not run to the door, knowing it had to be Liam. He opened the door. “Hi.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam smiled at him. “Hi. I, um, I’ve never done the whole ‘meeting the family’ thing before. Should I have brought flowers or something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby looked down and chuckled. “Nah, I think you’re fine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam nodded. “Cool. Um… you look great, by the way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby smiled. “Thanks, so do you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Soup’s on!” Sam called out to them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s soup?” Liam asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby shook his head. “Nah, that’s just a thing Sam says when dinner’s ready. No one knows why.” Liam nodded. Bobby gestured behind him with his thumb. “We should probably get in there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam nodded again and walked in, Bobby closing the door behind him. Liam held out his hand, and Bobby hesitated for a second before taking it. The two of them walked into the kitchen, where Elena and Sam were finishing setting the table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When they stepped in the room, Camilla smiled at them. “Hi, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Liam</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” She said it the same way she’d said ‘friend’ earlier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Danielle took a step closer to Liam and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Danielle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My girlfriend,” Camilla clarified.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam visibly relaxed at that. He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Liam.” Even though she had probably gathered that from Camilla already.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My boyfriend,” Bobby added, in case anyone hadn’t figured that out yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Camilla practically squealed. “I knew it!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Cami…” Danielle gave her another Look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you told me not to say that when someone comes out,” Bobby’s mom pointed out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Camilla waved her hand. “That’s different. You’re straight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait, why does that make it different?” Elena asked. Sam also looked confused. Bobby was also kind of confused. He felt like she was right, but he couldn’t place a finger on why.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Camilla sighed. Danielle poured herself a glass of wine, clearing preparing for Camilla to go off. “Because when a straight person clocks us, it’s literally terrifying, especially when you’re a kid. It’s like they’re saying that they know you’re different from them, like you aren’t doing enough to ‘fit in.’ But when queer people recognize each other it’s like ‘oh thank god I’m not alone.’ or in some cases ‘oh god I can’t wait to make sure these kids don’t have as crappy of a childhood as I did.’” Bobby thought back to that hairdresser he’d met the day of the dance, how he’d instantly felt more comfortable when he’d found out he had a husband, and he was pretty sure he could tell. He thought about how Camilla had been dropping increasingly less subtle hints for the past month and a half that she knew. He could kind of see where she was coming from. “And some of us have perfected the art of being just outwardly queer enough that only other queer people can tell.” She looked at Bobby and Liam. “I’ll teach you some day. It’s surprisingly easy. Straight people tend to be pretty oblivious.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok, but can we eat first? I’m hungry.” Danielle interrupted, before any of the straight people in the room could object to that last comment. “There will be plenty of time to be their Fairy Gaymothers later.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sam and Elena both snorted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fairy Gaymothers?” Bobby asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you like that? I came up with it.” Camilla looked so proud of herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby and Liam both shook their heads in amusement, chuckling lightly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, they all got settled in around the table to eat. They had to squeeze together a bit to make room for everyone, but it wasn’t too bad. Everyone loved Liam, which didn’t surprise Bobby at all. He clicked with Camilla and Danielle instantly. He laughed at all of Sam’s dumb jokes. He asked Elena about school and answered everyone’s questions about himself. He was the perfect gentleman. Bobby was endlessly impressed with him. He even stayed to help clean up after.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby walked him out. “If you want to run away now, I completely understand,” he joked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam laughed and shook his head. “Nah, you’re family’s great. Tonight was… surprisingly chill.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby laughed and looked down. “Seriously, thanks for coming. I know they can be a lot…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam took both his hands in his. “Hey, I told you. I can take anything they throw at me. Yeah, they’re intense, but they’re intense in the exact opposite way my family is, and I love it. Seriously.” Bobby nodded. “I’d invite you to meet my family next, but you know…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I think if I met your parents, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from trying to fight them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you’re too young to die, so maybe we should hold off on that.” Bobby snorted. “My grandma loves you though.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Liam nodded. “That’s good. She’s kind of intimidating.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? That sweet old lady?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby shook his head. “She could kick both our asses and you know it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam laughed. “Yeah…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s cool though. I’m glad she likes me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How could she not? You’re very lovable.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby rolled his eyes. He gave Liam a kiss goodbye. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Liam nodded. “Yeah. Good night, Bobby.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good night.” Liam stepped back and turned around to walk away. As he got to the sidewalk, he turned back to give Bobby a small wave. Bobby returned the wave and watched him walk away until he was out of sight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he walked back inside, Camilla was standing there with her arms crossed. “Oh, so you’re in </span>
  <em>
    <span>love</span>
  </em>
  <span> love.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby almost choked on his surprise. “What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She raised her eyebrow. “Come on, I saw the way you were looking at him all through dinner. It was adorable. And I literally haven’t seen you that happy in years.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bobby shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I’m in </span>
  <em>
    <span>love</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” He’d said ‘I love you’ to Monyca when he didn’t mean it. He wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. He barely even knew what love was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Camilla stepped closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a soft smile. “Hey, that’s not a bad thing. You deserve someone who makes you that happy. And I can tell he loves you too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really?” He hated how hopeful his voice sounded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.” She took her hand back and started to turn to go back into the kitchen with the others.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Camilla?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stopped. “What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re pretty good at this whole ‘Fairy Gaymother’ thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She attempted to flip her hair, even though it was in a ponytail. “I know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They both laughed and then walked back into the kitchen together.</span>
</p>
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